The former England Rugby Union captain Chris Robshaw has become the first person to fall foul of a new rule on Strictly Come Dancing. He and his partner, Nadiya Bychkova, were eliminated in the Week Four dance-off when, with the judges tied on two votes each, Craig Revel Horwood opted to save EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal and her partner Julian Caillon. Previously, the honour of having the final decision would have fallen to head judge Shirley Ballas, who had chosen to save Robshaw and Bychkova.
This year, for the first time, the judges will be sharing the responsibility of having the final decision, instead of it always falling to Ballas. In the previous 22 series, Robshaw would have survived this dance-off. Instead, he becomes the third celebrity to leave this year’s series, following Apprentice contestant Thomas Skinner and Good Morning Britain’s LA correspondent Ross King. On paper, the worst three dancers have left, in the correct order.
The judges were tied on whether to eliminate Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillion or Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova – Guy Levy/BBC
However, both Robshaw and Sopal could consider themselves unfortunate to be in the dance-off this weekend. Drag queen La Voix has had a strong enough series, but her dreadful cha-cha-cha scored 14, the lowest ever score at this stage of the competition in 23 series. She seemed stunned when Tess Daly announced she was going through to next week. “I wouldn’t have voted for that!” she said. Stefan Dennis, returning after missing last week through illness, brought a lot of fun to his Charleston, but little technical polish.
There will be continued conversations as to why Albert Square matriarch Sopal has been in the dance-off in the past two weeks – and why Ballas and fellow judge Anton du Beke chose to eliminate her. Her scores outstrip six of her 14 competitors and her technical potential is miles ahead of Robshaw’s, no matter how gamely the England man has improved over these four weeks. Robshaw, to his credit, executed superb lifts this weekend. But many will sympathise with Revel Horwood, who bemoaned the standard of Robshaw’s extremely limited samba.
The question remains what Sopal can do – if anything – to win over the voters at home. It seems inconceivable that she won’t be in a third dance-off next week, most likely against Dennis, and the judges cannot save her if they are not seeing tangible improvements. Next week is Icons Weeks and Dennis will be dancing as Jon Bon Jovi to the cheesy classic Livin’ on a Prayer. It will go down a storm. Sopal, then, will be saying her prayers all this week, while it is Robshaw who has been left cursing his luck – and that rule change.
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